On February 9, 2022, former Cabinet Secretary for Water Sicily Kanini Kariuki resigned from her Cabinet position to vie for a political seat in the then-forthcoming August elections.
She had shown interest in running on the jubilee ticket which was under the leadership of former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
However, Sicily suffered a major blow as Jubilee chose the former Nyandarua Governor Francis Kimemia over her, after a protracted political battle.
The matter was referred to Uhuru for arbitration after the party failed to give the incumbent the nomination certificate last week.
In April 2022, Jubilee Party Election Board Chairperson Stephen Wandeto and Director for Elections Kanini Kega issued nomination certificates to all aspirants in the Mount Kenya region except Nyandarua governor aspirants.
Two years later, the former CS opened up and claimed that losing the Nyandarua gubernatorial ticket was the price she had to pay for loyalty.
She narrates that after quitting the cabinet, she knew it was going to be tough as she didn’t have the advantage of time meaning she needed to employ some very innovative strategies at the ground level.
“Before the d-day when the gubernatorial candidates had to submit their names to IEBC. I started receiving some very interesting visitors and interesting calls,” Sicily said
“A decision needed to be made and the decision was that most likely I wasn’t going to secure the certificate,” she added.
The former CS said that she was disappointed when the Jubilee ticket was given to the ex-governor as she was getting feedback and the conversations held were telling her a different story, and the ground was also telling a different story as well.
Going further, Sicily noted that the D-day for the submission of candidates was so near that she didn’t have room to move in as an independent candidate.
“This is what politics is about. It was too late in the day. And so I very quickly decided it’s not a mourning season but a disappointing one and I will live to fight another day,” she added.
According to Sicily, everybody was extremely disappointed including her family and those who had come in to support me in terms of finances or their time.
From losing her gubernatorial bid, Sicily says she learnt huge lessons which she had used in the last two years.
Sicily was among some CSs in the Jubilee Cabinet who resigned ahead of August 2022.
Charles Keter (Devolution), Adan Mohamed (EAC), and John Munyes (Petroleum), PSs Chris Obure (Transport), Ababu Namwamba (Foreign Affairs CAS) and Lawrence Karanja (Industrialization) resigned from their posts.
